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How to Make a Stenciled Painted Floor Rug - Step by Step Tutorial

When Kaylene sent me a photo of a beautiful painted floor rug she just did the first thing I asked her was "Did you take pictures??!!!" Being the awesome friend that she is she said, "Of course":-)

So thanks to her, we get this great tutorial on making your OWN painted rug....you can do this over wood or concrete.

The beautiful "rug" was actually painted over pressboard (a cheaper type of wood). In general, pressboard should never be used as a flooring but hey, you work with what you have! (This was in an office building)

Kaylene bought latex (water based) WOOD/FLOOR paint. Oil paint (enamel) tends to be even more durable than water based paint, but unless you specifically buy the higher priced low/no VOC's there is a lot of offgasing (fumes) that you have to deal with. (and clean up is done with paint thinner or mineral spirits, not water!) So the easier way to go would be to use a WOOD/FLOOR paint in latex (water based) If you were doing this over concrete you would buy concrete paint. :-)

Also remember, the higher the gloss, the higher the durability. It's a balance though between the look your going for and the durability. (high glass can lend itself to a more modern look)

OK on to the painted rug TUTORIAL and how to do this yourself!

1) Tape off area, push a very light layer of glaze into the side of the tape, this will "block" paint from entering under the tape line - this makes a perfect line.

2) Prime - Kaylene used a tinted primer (not white) because the final color was saturated, but even if you are doing a very light color pattern and prime with white, it's a step you can NOT skip.

3) First base coat - taking care to 'feather' out the sides because a black border was being applied, don't want a big blob of a line under the black - two light coats. I made little 'tick' marks at the 6" line around the edge to know how far my paint needed to go into the black border. Allow to dry.

4) Find center - make a small tick mark. Center stencil on the tick mark and level with the border - measure twice, or three times. Use painters tape to lightly secure the stencil.

5) Using next color with excess paint off the roller (so, not sopping like you would painting a wall), roll over the stencil, taking care not to go past the edge of the stencil itself. Lift quickly from bottom to top. Using the 'windows' provided from the stencil, lay to the right or left and continue. This is where it begins to get messy - when laying it on top of itself, paint gets on the underside, try to use your best judgement of placing the stencil back on wet paint to reduce the mess it creates. Allow first layer to dry completely.

6) Tape off 6" border - push a very light layer of the turquoise under to prevent spreading of black.

7) Paint one light layer of black.

8) Apply additional color to stencil. If wanting to use an additional color, one can either do the two colors at one time, taking great time to carefully (with a sponge cut to size - cheap way - or stenciling tools) apply the design the way one wants it. Otherwise, after the first layer is dry, come through with the second color (the pink in this case).

7) Clean up edges with a new angle brush... tedious and perhaps a slightly lost cause on this type of surface, but I must have it as clean as it can be!

8) Second layer of black, peal off tape immediately, while wet so there's no ripping of the semi-gloss latex.

9) Finish the second color of stencil (pink) around the edges that were under the tape.

10) LASTLY seal with two coats of polyurethane!!

WHAT DO YOU THINK!!

It sure turns this "boring" office room into something exciting! Personally, her work always blows me away :-) Do you think you would try it in your home? Here are a few extra homey examples of painted wood floors to enjoy.

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